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Memorial Day weekend is famous for BBQs and sales. I figured I’d make things easy on myself this year and just combine the two. My new Kindle Single, Bittman’s Kitchen: What I Grill and Why, is now only $1.99 (used to be $2.99.) It’s a collection of my very best grilling recipes; sort of like a roadmap for how to eat your way from Memorial Day to Labor Day. I can almost smell that charcoal now. . .

Cool, crunchy, and chewy, this is a perfect summer salad, and quickly made with pearled barley, which cooks relatively fast. Other grains you can use: brown rice, wheat berries, cracked wheat, pearl couscous, or wild rice. Recipe from How to Cook Everything.

I just released my first (and apparently the first) food-related Kindle single. It’s called Bittman’s Kitchen: What I Grill and Why, and it costs $2.99 (is it just me, or are “books” getting cheaper?). This one is a compilation of my very favorite grilling recipes, the ridiculously easy, remarkably delicious dishes that I cook over and over again (because I’m too lazy, and they’re too good). I’ve written short essays to go along with each recipe, and included some indispensable grilling tips like how to stock a griller’s pantry and how to master doneness (not necessarily a no-brainer). So polish those tongs, stock up on charcoal (or propane), and happy grilling!

As someone with a lot of experience eating frozen veggie burgers, I can promise that making burgers from scratch is infinitely more delicious. These patties are meant to be appetizer-sized finger foods, but I made a couple monstrous ones to serve on rolls as veggie burgers instead. Or you could still make mini patties and serve them as sliders. Either way, these are great. You must be patient cooking them, and allow each side to really crisp up. This will help them stay together better when flipped, plus the crunchy outside is a nice texture contrast. Amazingly, the starch from the bulgur thickens up the mixture and acts as a paste to hold the ingredients together: no cheese or starch needed.

Skordalia, the dip that accompanies the patties, may be my new favorite condiment. It is a perfect complement to these burgers, but is also quite versatile, almost like hummus. It has a really unique flavor: super garlicky, nutty, and a little spicy. It would work great for crudités, pita, pretzels, or pretty much anything that can be dipped. Try it—you’ll be hooked. Recipe from The Food Matters Cookbook.

As the weather finally becomes mild, the word picnic has returned to my vocabulary, and I’ve started mentally collecting good recipes for outdoor eating. Not all tasty dishes make tasty picnic fare, but fortunately, most pasta salads will do the trick—especially if they taste good at room temperature, like this one. I love how filling soba noodles are, and they still match well with light sauces and green veggies, as in this recipe. The sauce is simple but flavorful, and the asparagus and edamame are a beautiful, springy contrast to the dark noodles. Try to get your hands on some of the lovely asparagus that’s out there while it’s still super fresh. And happy picnicking! Recipe from The Food Matters Cookbook.

If you want restaurant-style coleslaw, you take shredded cabbage and combine it with mayo and maybe a little lemon juice. This version is far more flavorful with far less fat. I like cabbage salad (which is what coleslaw amounts to) on the spicy side, so I use plenty of Dijon, along with a little garlic and chile (you could substitute cayenne for the chile or just omit it if you prefer), and scallions. Recipe from How to Cook Everything.

There’s no joking here with the superlative in the title of this recipe. It is truly the easiest salad ever. And what’s even better is that it’s also the most versatile. There are endless ways to vary a basic vinaigrette (see suggestions below), so you’ll never get tired of experimenting with flavors. My favorite addition is about a teaspoon or two of Dijon mustard to the recipe below.

These salads do well mixed with other ingredients, too, like extra veggies (carrots, celery, bell peppers, etc.). I really like combining both beans and grains into one salad and serving that over mixed greens—it makes for an easy lunch to pack. I find that I need a little more dressing for the grains than the beans, since they absorb the liquid. It’s worth just making extra dressing if you think you’ll use it within a few days. Homemade is so much better than the bottled stuff. Recipe from The Food Matters Cookbook.

You can use the stand-alone sauce in this recipe with any simply cooked fish (steak or fillet), though I especially like it here, with the gentle butter-poaching technique and a delicate-tasting fish like halibut.

Other seafood you can use: any thick white fish steaks or thick fillets, or scallops or shrimp. Recipe from How to Cook Everything.

This recipe may sound like a far cry from a traditional tamale; here, there are no corn husks, no dough, and no meat. But somehow the flavor and consistency of a real tamale is achieved. I will admit that mine definitely didn’t come out as the instructions suggested it would. You need to really grease the pan if you want the mixture to emerge in loaf form. Adding a little fat to the quinoa, either in the form of cheese or a little oil, might have helped the quinoa layers set and stay together better. Of course, it will taste just as good if it spills out into a giant pile, as did mine, but appearance-wise it will be lacking some elegance.

No matter—this dish was delicious, if not beautiful. The cheese layer melts in the oven and the outer edges of the quinoa crisp up nicely, although the real highlight for me was the tomatillo salsa. As mentioned below, it could be reserved and used for other dishes as well. The tomatillos are pretty sweet, and you can adjust the spiciness depending on the pepper you use. Make a little more than the recipe calls for; you’ll want to have some extra. Recipe from The Food Matters Cookbook.